Culturally Responsive Teaching and SEL are not Created Equal.

Lately, I have been hearing and seeing educators equate culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and social emotional learning (SEL) as one and the same. However, they are not. While there are ways to connect CRT to SEL, they are still different. The differences are obvious; however, some educators have found a way to make them equal.

Let us discuss the differences. First, CRT centers culture and the lived experiences of ethnically diverse students to impact their achievement. SEL centers the “self” to help students become socially-emotionally competent in society. Secondly, SEL has five competencies such as self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship building that teaches students to manage their emotions. Yes, if one would like to dig deeper with SEL, they could look further into a student’s cultural background to connect cultural responsiveness. However, this still does not equate culturally responsive teaching and social emotional learning. Third, CRT is a pedagogy for teachers to use to support the academics of ethnically diverse students. SEL is a framework that is used to support self-management. SEL is about teaching skills that are essential to mental wellness. CRT assists teachers with engaging ethnically diverse students to a curriculum that is Eurocentric dominant and minimally educates them about their cultural heritages.

There are clear differences here. When educators equate SEL to CRT, to me, it is a way to overshadow culturally responsive teaching. In doing so, they put social emotional learning at the center of what they “deem” as culturally responsive teaching and miss the whole purpose of using the pedagogy. Moreover, many educators continue to use strategies that maintain the status quo of achievement for ethnically diverse students and do little to nothing to impact their success. SEL is not CRT.

Currently, I have pondered, “are educators using social emotional learning to increase achievement for ethnically diverse students?” If not, then stop equating culturally responsive teaching and social emotional learning as one and the same. They are not. They are two separate entities that are serving two different purposes. Educators must get clear on this.